The Mermaid

When I was seven, Disney's The Little Mermaid came out.  I am fairly certain that every girl goes through a mermaid phase at one point or another in their lives.

Frankly, if I were a mermaid, I would also surface briefly, cause a scene, and then disappear for dramatic effect.

Around that time, my Uncle Scott (who technically is not my uncle, but a family friend) told me once, that when he was out on a boat, he saw a mermaid splashing about.

Mom told him not to fill my head with stories lest I go and blab them around the school as I was known to weave stories on the playground.  I had already come up with a very lengthy ancient Egypt story.  I also swear kids go through ancient Egypt and dinosaur phases.

I, however, had questions.

I asked him what the mermaid looked like?  He said she had long black hair and very pale skin.  I asked what she was doing.  She was splashing in the water near the boat like she was playing and then dove down and disappeared.

I remember this with absolute clarity.

When we're kids we live in a world where things like that are still possible.  The world was big then.  The lakes are full of deep secrets, the woods are thick enough for witches, and the ocean can hold anything it wanted to.  Only about 25% of the ocean has been mapped out and only 5% has been deeply explored.

As we get older we spend a lot of time trying to explain the world.  We label things, measure them, put up signs reading "Dry Paint" (I've seen this), and we insist everything has an explanation, a time, and a place.

But when you're seven the world isn't yet fully explained so it's still enchanted.

I think that's why I remember the mermaid story so well.  Not because I completely believed nor disbelieved it, but it lived in that perfect little space of maybe.

Maybe he saw a seal.  Maybe he saw someone swimming.  Maybe he just wanted to entertain me by telling me a story.

I think children understand something that adults often forget:  not everything that is important has to be proven.  Some things are allowed to just be stories and mysteries.

And some things, if you're lucky, stay with you your entire life, like a mermaid disappearing under the water and leaving you staring at the surface wondering what else might be down there.

And a small part of me, even now, hopes he really did see one.